Trailblazers and leaders: Lilian Anekwe
Lilian Anekwe | Director, Global Digital Communications | GSK
How did you get into marketing/comms?
My role at GSK is technically my first Comms with a capital C role. But I have always worked with content - as a journalist, in social media for Meta, and leading teams of content experts, creators and communicators.
What is something that you do every day without fail?
I pray - not just once, but constantly. The work I do is fun, but can be challenging. Sometimes it does require a lot of patience, resilience and wisdom. On the days that I do it well I can only do all these things through Christ, who strengthens me. My job also requires a lot of exposure to the world through the lens of social media, which doesn't always show it at its best. Prayer is a good opportunity to disconnect from that, and reset by centering on what my purpose is, and stop it feeling personally so overwhelming.
What is the best piece of advice that you’ve received? And who gave it to you?
The best piece of advice was a terrible one that I didn't take! When I got offered a job which was a pivot from what I had done up to that point, my skip level manager told me not to take it - to effectively stay in my lane and not make the jump at that point, because "these kinds of opportunities come along all the time". I look back and think thank God I didn't listen to them! For someone with my background, for black women, for so many people from under-represented groups, jobs and opportunities don't come up as easily or as frequently as they do for others. My career has dramatically altered since then, and the growth I was forced into in that role set me up for future jumps, and taught me to trust my instincts because I have the resilience to leave my comfort zone and trust that I will thrive.
What is a tool/hack that you would recommend to anyone starting out in PR/Comms/Marketing?
Everyone's saying AI now! I've recently started to use it to life-work hack. I'll tell Claude my objectives, deadlines, work and personal commitments - fixed and flexible - and tell it my priorities, how long I want to dedicate to different tasks and breaks I want to build in. Then I'll have it suggest a calendar that fits it all in, and upload it to my Google Calendar. Try it and see if it works for you! If not, then my other piece of advice would be prioritise your time, as ruthlessly as you have to. I've built the muscle of saying no over time, now I really try to focus my time and energy on things that will be rewarding, where I can bring value, or things I want to learn more about - rather than saying yes to everything but really getting not that much out of it.
What’s your greatest achievement to date?
The life that I've built for myself. I love now that I have a balance of family, friends, work and spending my time doing things that I value and that bring me joy. I try not to worry too much about the future. That's not to say that it's perfect! It still gets chaotic and messy, but I'm enjoying this season.
Is there a particular comms campaign that you’ve seen in your career that you didn’t work on but wish you had?
Not a comms campaign as such, but I've been following the work of Sandra Igwe over the years to create The Motherhood Group, build the community, and raise awareness of the disparity in health outcomes for black mothers and normalise conversations and challenges for the community. If anyone has the chance to work with her, jump at it! She's a force of nature.
In three words, describe your approach to your role/work?
Work to live.
What’s a question every PR/marketing pro should ask themselves?
What perspective can I add here? Black voices shape the culture in so many ways, let's make that work for us.
